English is the widest-spread lingua franca
there has ever been. It is unfortunate
that it is a nuts-and-bolts, anti-abstract language
with little of the metaphysical subtlety
of Farsi or Pali. (Not to mention, thanks to Gutenberg
+ pronunciation-shift, a crazy orthography).
But hey!
Things could be worse. The last lingua franca
was French, with much emotional subtlety
but little innovative plasticity,
or cut-and-paste opportunity
for verbal re-arrangement.
French could never come up with such
a brilliant word as 'infotainment'.
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